Erectile dysfunction disease is considered as a representative urology disease in the field of Andrology. Erectile dysfunction can have psychogenic or organic causes. The organic causes comprise dysfunction of the nervous system, blood vascular system, or endocrine system. Central nervous system disease (e.g. spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis), peripheral nerve disease (e.g. diabetes, pelvic surgery), hypertension and renal disease have all been associated with erectile dysfunction.
In particular, the frequency of erectile dysfunction in the patients with diabetes is about three times more than ordinary person. Various studies show that 35% to 75% of men with diabetes will develop erectile dysfunction (Fedele, D. et al., Int. J. Epidemiol. 2000, 29, 524-531; Johannes, C. B. et al., J. Urol. 2000, 163, 460-463).
Diabetes harms cavernosal innervation and endothelial function, both of which are important for erectile function, and also decreases nitric oxide production. In addition, hyperglycaemia induces the overproduction of superoxide (O2−). Corporal apoptosis, resulting from oxidative stress in penile tissues, was found to be a major cause of erectile impairment in diabetic animals.
In general, the treatments for erectile dysfunction comprise psychotherapy, non-surgical therapy and surgical therapy. Non-surgical therapy comprises medicine, priapism induced by intracavernous injection, and vacuum consitriction device. surgical therapy comprises penile vein ligation for venogenic impotence, penile revascularization, and penile prosthesis implantation. Until now, Viagra® is the most effective medicine for treating erectile dysfunction. There have been studied to develop alternatives to Viagra, however, there are no reports about effective medicine to patient with diabetic erectile dysfunction.
Meanwhile, mulberry is a fruit of the Morus alba L belonging to the Moraceae family or closely related plants of same genus, and referred to as ‘Sangsim’ ‘Sangsil’ ‘Osim’ or ‘Heuksim’ in the oriental medicinal system. Mulberries have been used in traditional oriental medicine to treat and prevent diabetes. The root bark of mulberry tree has long been used in oriental medicine for anti-inflammatory, diuretic, antitussive, and antipyretic purposes.
Muberry contains natural pigment C3G, which is one of the most predominant form of anthocyanin. C3G is contained at high level in mulberry and isolated from mulberry easily and stably with high yields, since mulberry has the pigment in all the fruit. Mulberry has 23 times more C3G than grapes and 2.3 times more C3G than colored rice. C3G, which is contained at high level in mulberry, has been demonstrated to exert free radical scavenging and inflammation suppression activities.
With regard to C3G, Korean Patent No. 0601320 discloses the use of C3G for the treatment of hyperlipidemia, and Korean Patent No. 0880876 discloses the use of C3G for the treatment of ischemia-reperfusion injury. In addition, Korean Patent Publication No. 2011-0014401 discloses the use of Rubus Coreanus extract containing C3G for the treatment of gastric antral ulceration. Various medical activities of C3G are reported as above, however, there are no reports or studies about medical effects of C3G on diabetic erectile.